Medical Center Atwood

With Thanksgiving a week away and Christmas and New Year’s a month or so away, the holidays have officially arrived. Along with the holidays comes parties, pot-lucks, cold-weather colds, busy shopping malls, and traveling. With all of the commotion of the season and plates of cookies, it can be hard to stay healthy and motivated to make time to exercise and eat right. That’s why Rawlins County Health Center wants to get in ahead of time with some friendly tips on how to stay healthy the next two months.

Our medical center provides cardiac health services, diabetic services, laboratory services, and more. As much as we love treating our patients, we want to keep as many people as healthy as possible during the holidays. So as you’re hopping from family party to office party, keep these tips in mind.

Get in Some Exercise

This is no doubt one of the busiest times of the year, making it hard to fit in the recommended 30 mins of exercise a day. But if you want to avoid the holiday-15, make it point to at least do something every day that involves movement. Take the stairs at work, go for a walk during lunch, take your dog for a walk after work, do jumping-jacks before you get in the shower in the morning — every little bit of exercise can make a big difference at the end of the day.

Keep Eating Your Veggie

When traveling for the holidays or going to parties, healthy fruits and vegetables can be hard to come by. If you know that you’re going to a party that night, eat a satisfying salad for lunch. Toss in some tuna or chicken with avocado, peppers, broccoli, and something sweet like raisins or dried cranberries. For a filling side, grab a handful of almonds. If you’re looking for healthy snacks, try a bag of baby carrots and some hummus. Getting in at least some veggies throughout the day will give your body essential nutrients.

Sleep

It’s easy to think that you can lose a few hours a night or two during the week because of an event, but this will quickly catch up with you. Too little sleep will eventually start affecting your immune system. With a weak immune system, when you are exposed to a virus, it will be harder for your body to fight it off.

Watch For Germs

This is especially important if you are traveling or spending time at other people’s homes. Watch out for door handles, faucets, and watch who you’re shaking hands with. If you happen to catch a cold, be sure to cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, wash your hands frequently, and don’t feel guilty about having to stay home from an event. Staying home is better than infecting 10 other people.

Eat Before You Go

If you know you’re heading out to a party that will have a table full of fatty and sugary foods, try to get in a healthy meal before you leave. You can still have a little snack or dessert at the party, but you won’t feel like you have to fill up your plate with unhealthy treats.

Watch What You Drink

If you’re trying to watch your calories this season, keep an eye on what you’re drinking. Many alcoholic drinks are full of calories and then all of a sudden you’re well over your daily calorie budget. Beer, wine, and hard ciders are alcoholic drinks with the highest calories. Liquor like rum and gin are good options when mixed with tonic water or club soda.

Take a Multivitamin

If you truly are on the go and can’t manage to get in some vegetables, at least take a daily multivitamin. It’s a quick and easy way to give your body some nutrients to keep you out of the doctor’s office. Look for one with vitamin C, D, magnesium, zinc, and B-12. But keep in mind, a multivitamin shouldn’t be used as a substitute for healthy living.

The doctors and staff at Rawlins County Health Center want you to enjoy your holidays! But we also hope that we don’t see you at our medical center — no offense. If you are feeling ill or need urgent care, please visit us in Atwood on Grant Street. We take pride in giving our patients the best care year round.

When diagnosed with diabetes, it can be a life-altering change. One of the biggest changes may be to your diet and how you think about food. However, with a proper plan and diet, and by eating healthily, you can begin to control symptoms and start to get your life back. At Rawlins County Health Center, our staff wants to ensure that you live your healthiest life.

The purpose of creating a nutrition plan to manage your diabetes is to help control your sugar intake. This will also help you manage your weight and other factors, such as heart disease and high blood pressure. Without the proper diet, there could be complications from the rise in blood glucose, including nerve, kidney, and heart damage. In order to prevent these from occurring, a healthy diet is a primary defense.

Healthy Foods For People With Diabetes

Healthy Carbohydrates

When you consume simple carbohydrates and starches, these break down into blood glucose. Avoid processed bread and instead focus on eating fruits, vegetables, beans, peas, lentils, and low-fat dairy products.

Foods High in Fiber

A benefit of fiber-rich foods is that they control how your body digests and slows the absorption of sugar. Include foods with insoluble like beans, whole wheat flour, broccoli, pears, chickpeas, and many other fruits and vegetables.

Heart Healthy Foods

Certain fish will help lower blood fats, known as triglycerides. Look for fish that are high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, cod, tuna, and halibut. Other heart-healthy foods include spinach, oatmeal, berries, nuts, tomatoes, and dark chocolate.

Healthy Fats

You want to include the healthy fats, or monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These include foods like avocados, almonds, pecans, olives, and olive oil. However, be mindful of how much you consume of these foods, as they are often high in calories.

Tips For Eating Nutritiously

Eat More Vegetables: When putting meals together, fill your place with appropriate amounts of certain foods. Fill one half of the plate with vegetables, such as spinach or broccoli. One-quarter of the plate should be filled with a low-fat protein like fish or pork. Finish the plate off with a whole grain.

Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates have one of the biggest effects on blood glucose, so be sure to eat carbs at the same time each day, especially if you are taking medication or insulin.

Exchange List Method: One method for finding healthy foods to eat is the exchange list. These lists include foods within certain categories, such as protein. The foods within the same category have similar effects on your blood glucose, so you can choose one food from each category.

Glycemic Index: When choosing healthy foods to eat, some diabetics use this method to help. Essentially, this method lets you choose foods based on how they affect glucose levels. Talk with your doctor at Rawlins County Health Center to learn more about this strategy.

We understand that living with and managing diabetes can be frustrating and overwhelming, but we also know the importance of having a healthy diet and lifestyle. It may be a slow start to find a routine that works for you, but with the right help and guidance from the staff at our medical center, you will begin to feel healthy and positive.

Learn more about the diabetes treatment at our medical center and schedule an appointment today.

To meet the needs of the people of Western Kansas, Goodland Regional Medical Center (GRMC), Logan County Health Services (LCHS), and Rawlins County Health Center (RCHC) are engaging in a formal, deliberate process for creating a future together as founding members of the Centura Rural Health Network. As the system of choice for the region, Centura Health has a management agreement with each of the three hospitals. Under the management agreement, each hospital maintains autonomy and local governance, but as a group, the network is collaborating to build a connected and enabling system committed to integrating care and enabling physicians, providers, and patients to flourish in healthy communities.

Each partner organization brings its own unique assets and strengths to the network. By combining these valuable local resources, the Centura Rural Health Network supports an enabling, connected system, making it possible to sustain and grow high performing health care service to ensure quality, achieve better outcomes, and promote health.

Through shared strategic direction, mission, and vision, the network is engaged in reducing costs, improving the care experience for the region, and helping people get well and stay well. Current activities underway include shared purchasing, expanding specialty care such as trauma, surgery, cardiology, pulmonary, ENT, and dermatology, improved technology, staff and community education programs, and implementing consistent, standardized best practices.

The Centura Rural Health Network is an enduring partnership focused on keeping care close to home to provide the citizens of Northwest Kansas with consistent, predictable value and compassionate, patient-centered healthcare for years to come.

Your heart starts beating at around three to four weeks in the womb and keeps you moving throughout your life, when all goes well. And for many of us, we only get one heart, making it crucial to protect it. With so many heart-related diseases (coronary artery disease, heart valve disease, etc), and health issues that can harm the heart (blood pressure, high cholesterol), we need to do everything we can in order to keep our hearts healthy and pumping strong. So, what are the best ways to protect your heart?

The doctors, nurses, and assistants at Rawlins County Health Center are passionate about educating each of the patients that visit our medical center in Atwood. Whatever health concern or emergency you’re having, you can count on our staff to provide you with a caring experience.

How to Protect Your Heart

Stay Active

For many people, getting and staying active comes down to not having the energy and lacking the motivation to start. These are big hurdles that will take a lot of mental strength to cross, but when the end goal is to improve the strength of your heart and your overall health, crossing the hurdles is a must. The key is to start out small — take the stairs at work, go on a short walk, swim a couple laps at a pool, or even doing some jumping jacks in your living room in the morning is enough to get your heart pumping. Over time, you can slowly build up the intensity of the activities.

Getting in two and a half hours each week of moderate activity will help lower your blood pressure, keep your weight in control, and can lower your LDL cholesterol. You’ll also benefit by a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, reduced depression, and improved sleep. So however hard you struggle getting started, keep your focus on feeling and living better!

Control Cholesterol by Eating Right

The important thing about cholesterol is to keep a balance between the good (HDL) and the bad (LDL). To keep the bad cholesterol down, keep an eye on the amount of red meats you’re eating, choose low-fat dairy, and try to limit trans fats, such as margarine, doughnuts, sweets with cream or frosting, and fried foods. The good cholesterol (foods such as salmon, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, and beans) works to clean your arteries of the bad cholesterol. If you’re not sure what your cholesterol level is, schedule an appointment at our medical center for a quick test.

Manage Blood Pressure

High blood pressure, or hypertension, often doesn’t have any symptoms, and can be a serious problem for your heart. This is because there is a large amount of stress being put on your arteries, which is caused by various factors, including being overweight, too much salt in your diet, smoking, or stress. Manage your blood pressure by eating a balanced diet with minimal salt and alcohol, and start exercising regularly.

Keep a Healthy Weight

Weight management is a significant part of protecting your heart. Those who are overweight have a higher chance of developing cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes. The good news is that it doesn’t take a lot to get results. Losing just 3 to 5 percent of your body weight can help your heart.

Getting and staying healthy is a journey, but one that ends with a healthier, stronger heart! The doctors at our medical center strongly believe that every ounce of effort is worth it. If you’re in need of medical attention or advice, visit Rawlins County Health Center today. Our medical center is located at the east corner of Atwood Lake off of Grant Street.

Rawlins County Health Center in Atwood, Kansas was recently named one of the Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals in the United States by The Chartis Center for Rural Health.

“This recognition represents our team commitment to serving our community while changing to meet the dynamic demands of operating a critical access hospital in the 21st century,” said Sharon K Cox, Rawlins County Health Center CEO. “We are fortunate to have a visionary Board of Trustees willing to embrace the future. This is the second time Rawlins County Health Center received this recognition, that last time being in 2015.”

Rawlins County Health Center scored in the top 100 of Critical Access Hospitals on iVantage Health Analytics’ Hospital Strength INDEX®. The INDEX is the industry’s most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural provider performance and its results are the basis for many of rural healthcare’s most prominent awards, advocacy efforts and legislative initiatives. The list of the Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals can be found at www.ivantageindex.com/top-performing-hospitals.

The Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals play a key role in providing a safety net to communities across America – and the INDEX measures these facilities across eight pillars of hospital strength: Inpatient Share Ranking, Outpatient Share Ranking, Cost, Charge, Quality, Outcomes, Patient Perspective, and Financial Stability.

“The Hospital Strength INDEX provides a true benchmark for helping rural providers to better understand performance levels and identify areas of improvement. When we look across the spectrum of rural-relevant INDEX indicators, the Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals are establishing a new standard for how to deliver higher quality care to their communities despite an unpredictable healthcare environment,” said Michael Topchik, National Leader of The Chartis Center for Rural Health.

About Rawlins County Health Center

The role and Mission of Rawlins County Health Center is to improve the health and quality of life of the individuals and communities it serves. Located in Atwood, Kan., this 24-bed critical access hospital services the community through cardiac rehabilitation, diabetic services, laboratory, outpatient surgery, physical therapy, wound care, x-ray, stress testing, MRI, bone density, ultrasound, nuclear medicine and CAT scan. Its specialty clinics include cardiology, general surgery, and mental health services. Rawlins County Health Center is committed to setting the standard for patient-centered quality healthcare. For more information, please visit http://www.rchc.us/.

About The Chartis GroupThe Chartis Group® (Chartis) provides comprehensive advisory services and analytics to the healthcare industry. With an unparalleled depth of expertise in strategic planning, performance excellence, informatics and technology, and health analytics, Chartis helps leading academic medical centers, integrated delivery networks, children’s hospitals and healthcare service organizations achieve transformative results. The Chartis Center for Rural Health (CCRH) was formed in 2016 to offer tailored services, performance management solutions, research and education to rural hospitals and facilities. Learn more at Chartisrural.com.

October is National Physical Therapy Month—there’s no better time to celebrate the benefits that physical therapy can have for your body and your health!

In this blog, the Atwood medical center team at Rawlins County Health Center will outline the benefits of physical therapy. These benefits don’t just help you in the short term—you’ll feel much better and healthier in the long run as well!

Pain Reduction

Therapeutic exercises are an excellent form of pain relief, especially when they mobilize and strengthen soft tissue in the body. These exercises, paired with electrical stimulation, can reduce and even eliminate pain for better joint function!

Improved Mobility

It doesn’t matter if you’re 16 or 60—if you have mobility issues and have trouble standing, sitting, walking, or performing other normal movements during the day, physical therapy can be hugely beneficial. The movements performed in physical therapy can simultaneously stretch and strengthen muscles, improving your range of motion and helping you move better than ever before. For older folks, physical therapy can improve mobility and strength to the point that they can avoid using canes, crutches, or other assisting devices. With some hard work in physical therapy, you can move better than you have in years!

Faster Recovery

For high-performing athletes, physical therapy can be very helpful for recovery between games, a full-on recovery from an injury, or prevention of a likely injury. In any sport, there are certain injuries that are more likely to occur than others. Physical therapy can help strengthen joints and muscle groups that are more likely to be injured, and can ensure a speedier recovery if any of these injuries occur.

Better Balance

Physical therapy is an excellent way to improve your balance, especially if you’re at a higher risk for falls. Every person who enters physical is tested to see if they are a “fall risk”—this ensures that everyone is safe during the physical therapy process. Once physical therapists determine your fall risk and your balancing skills, they can use balance exercises that mimic real-life scenarios to help you stay safe in the real world. These exercises will gradually improve your balance, which can help you with everyday activities, sports, and tricky, treacherous walking or hiking situations.

Physical Therapy With Rawlins County Health Center

If you’re in need of physical therapy for any reason, you’ve come to the right place! The professionals at our Atwood medical center can help you reduce your risk for injury, improve your mobility, and help you live a better life. Schedule an appointment today!

As you age, the health of your heart becomes a more pressing issue—and if your family is predisposed for heart disease, the need for heart-healthy habits becomes even more urgent.

Fortunately, there are many steps you can take to improve your heart health and lower the likelihood of developing heart disease and other heart-related ailments. In this blog, Rawlins County Health Center, your preferred Atwood medical center, will give you a few simple ways that you can improve your health and protect your heart in the process.

Take a walk.

If you live a sedentary lifestyle and haven’t exercised in awhile, you’re definitely putting your heart at risk. Obesity and poor circulation are both side effects of a couch potato lifestyle, and they’re both common causes of heart disease as well

However, you don’t have to lift for two hours a day and run marathons to improve your heart health. It all starts with a brisk walk.

Walking is a great way to ease back into shape and improve your heart health—it improves your circulation instantly, burns calories, and it’s a generally rejuvenative and enjoyable activity. More intense exercises like lifting and running put a lot of stress on the body in order for you to improve circulation, making you feel sore and tired. Waking, on the other hand, is energizing, and it has a way of clearing your head and relieving your stress.

Ultimately, a brisk, 45-minute walk four to five times a week will decrease your risk of heart disease, increase your fitness, and make you feel better. What’s not to like?

Adjust your diet.

In a world with long work schedules, limited free time, and plenty of tempting fast-food options, a poor diet is more convenient than ever before—and unfortunately, it accelerates the onset of obesity, harms circulation, and clogs arteries with plaque that can lead to heart disease.

If that sounds like your diet, it’s time to make a few changes. Even adding an extra fruit and vegetable to your daily diet can make a considerable difference for your overall health and decrease the likelihood of developing heart disease. Ultimately, it’s large amounts of sugar (like in the soda you drink every day) that are the most harmful to your heart—if you can replace sugars with healthier options like fruits, vegetables, and lean meats, you’ll be in a better position to avoid heart disease and achieve health and longevity.

Manage stress.

Poor health isn’t just biological—it’s psychological. All of the stress and anxiety from a grueling work schedule, a lack of sleep, and other personal issues can affect you mentally, and do a number on your physical health in the process. People overloaded by stress have an increased risk for high blood pressure, weight gain, and you guessed it, heart disease—so keeping your stress in check is critical for heart health and health in general.

So how do you manage your stress for improved health? Ultimately, it’s as simple as removing stress factors from your life and doing the things you love most. Your exhaustion from a lack of sleep can cause a great deal of stress, so why not prioritize sleep for awhile and catch up on those Z’s? If your job makes your dread coming into the office every single day, why not look for a job that’s less stressful and more fulfilling? These are just a few steps you can take to reduce your stress and improve your overall quality of life.

It’s also important to do the things that bring happiness and peace to your life—that’s the ultimate key to being stress-free. Schedule out time in your life to do the things you love the most—reading, hiking, hanging out with grandkids, whatever it may be—and stick to these commitments. It can de difficult to get around to the things you love the most when you’re constantly thinking about work and other commitments. However, doing the things you love should be one of your highest priorities if you’re going to preserve or improve your health.

That’s it for part 1 of our series on tips for better heart health. Stay tuned for part 2, and check out our other blogs in the meantime!

The Rawlins County Health Center is in the process of creating a new Central Sterile area in the facility and the Rawlins County Hospital Foundation saw a way they may be able to help. Along with funding from the 2012 Capital Campaign, there was the talk of a possibility of finding some funding through grants, specifically a grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation.

“There is a lot of critical equipment that carries a pretty hefty price tag,” said Suzanna Dozbaba, RCHC Marketing/Foundation Manager. She continued, “We felt as though we had a great chance at finding some funding to help with that cost.” The Central Sterile Area in the Health Center will be used by the entire facility and the completion of the area will also mean the use of the new Operating Suite that was completed last year.

“We are looking forward to retiring the outdated operating and central sterile areas,” said Mary Clark, RN, Pharmacy and Surgical Nurse, “We’ve worked hard to continue using the extremely outdated area but the time saved in the new spaces will be amazing. The improvements on both the patient and staff sides will be noticeable.” The new Central Sterile Area began construction this week and should be finished this fall.

The Rawlins County Hospital Foundation and the Rawlins County Health Center are grateful for the $100,000 awarded to them to go towards the equipment. “We are feeling blessed right now and don’t take the decision lightly. There are a lot of worthy causes out there and we are grateful that the Dane G. Hansen Foundation saw the need we had here and awarded us with so much financial help for the project,” said Dozbaba.

The Dane G. Hansen Foundation was established as a charitable organization in 1965, with the primary goal of making the communities of Northwest Kansas better places to live. You can learn more about the Dane G. Hansen Foundation at www.danehansenfoundation.org and about the Rawlins County Health Center and the Rawlins County Hospital Foundation www.rchc.us.

If you experience pain throughout your body that seems to stem from one area, you may be experiencing what are known as trigger points. A trigger point is a specific area within your myofascial tissue, often located in the back or the neck, that causes pain or discomfort which carries to different areas of your body. Since trigger points can cause chronic pain, it is important that they are treated through the use of myofascial release therapy. With manual massage techniques from trained physical therapists, myofascial release therapy can be very effective in treating tight spots, knots, or soreness throughout long bands of muscle tissue.

Our goal at Rawlins County Health Center is to educate patients so that they may live a happier and healthier life. If you feel that you could benefit from myofascial release therapy, learn more by reading our article below. We’ll outline what myofascial pain is caused by, how myofascial release therapy works, and the easy techniques you can do at home to aid in myofascial release.

How it Works

Due to stress, injury, or overuse, muscles can begin to tighten and shorten, causing individuals a great deal of pain, discomfort, and loss of flexibility. According to the National Association of Myofascial Trigger Point Therapists, “patients evaluated in one pain management center were found to have a myofascial component to their pain in 95% of cases.” Knowing this information, you can begin to see how common trigger point pain can be for individuals. Many people who experience myofascial and trigger point pain aren’t even aware that their muscle fibers are permanently contracted, which leads to muscle tension and tightness. The purpose of myofascial release therapy is to effectively return permanently contracted muscles to their relaxed state.

Self Myofascial Release at Home

If you are unable to schedule a session with a massage therapist or physical therapist, myofascial release can be achieved at home with a little effort. To easily treat trigger points in the comfort of your own home, simply purchase a tennis ball or foam roller. Foam rollers are common tools that are used to break up tight muscle tissue, and can be found online or at major retail stores. After you’ve purchased your trigger point tool of choice, begin by laying on your back and placing your tennis ball or foam roller underneath you. Start by using your foam roller or tennis ball to slowly roll around sore spots on your back until you find a trigger point. You’ll know you’ve found a trigger point when rolling over an incredibly sore spot that causes pain and discomfort.

If you are using a tennis ball to massage a trigger point, let the tennis ball rest on the trigger point until it begins to relax and give way to the tennis ball. After your trigger point has relaxed and loosened, begin using your body’s weight to leverage the tennis ball deeper into your muscle tissue. This will ensure that you are reaching the main source of your trigger point, and will help eliminate the root cause of pain altogether. Alternatively, if you’re using a foam roller, use your body’s weight to move the foam roller up and down your back. After you’ve found the sorest area affecting you most, begin slowly rolling up and down the muscle tissue. Although you may not be massaging the trigger point directly, you can effectively help the trigger point release by massaging the long muscle fibers which connect to your trigger point. This will cause your trigger point to relax, allowing myofascial release to occur naturally.

With enough practice, you will begin to find your trigger points quickly and easily. Myofascial release therapy can alleviate most of the pain an individual is experiencing, improving their quality of life and muscular mobility. If you are a resident in Atwood or its surrounding areas and want to learn more about myofascial release therapy, get in touch with our friendly staff at Rawlins County Health Center! Our physical therapists are experienced in myofascial release therapy, and work with patients to ensure that they leave our facility with an increased range of motion while decreasing their overall level of pain. Contact Rawlins County Health Center to schedule your appointment today!

The importance of stretching to maintain flexibility and overall health is often understated. While many individuals attribute muscle soreness or tightness to old age or pre-existing injuries, the truth is, muscle tightness can easily be avoided with a few simple stretches during your morning routine. Not only will daily stretching aid in injury prevention, it will also help you increase your range of motion and overall level of flexibility.

At Rawlins County Health Center, we’re dedicated to helping residents in Atwood, Kansas and the surrounding areas maintain an optimal level of health and wellness. Throughout this article, we’ll talk about four easy stretches you can implement into your morning routine to increase your range of motion and improve your quality of life. Through consistent stretching, you’ll begin to notice a decrease in injuries while introducing a sense of calm and wellbeing into your life.

Neck Stretch

Do you experience general tightness or soreness throughout your neck upon waking? Does your job require you to look at a screen for an extended period of time? If so, an easy neck stretch can help loosen tight muscles that cause discomfort to your neck. While sitting in a comfortable position, gently bring your left ear to your left shoulder and hold the stretch for 20 seconds. This will effectively provide a deep stretch to the right side of your neck. Alternatively, to stretch the left side of your neck, bring your right ear to your right shoulder and hold for 20 seconds. While holding this stretch, you may feel your neck begin to loosen up. If possible, gently work the stretch deeper as your muscles loosen, but be mindful not to extend your stretch too far. While a deep stretch may feel very relaxing, it is important not to stretch past your body’s level of flexibility as injury may occur.

Lying Spinal Twist

If you sit for long periods of time, or wake up from an uncomfortable night of sleep with radiating back pain, the lying spinal twist will help relieve muscle tension and soreness felt throughout your back. The lying spinal twist is an easy, yet effective, stretch that requires little effort and provides excellent relief. While lying on your back on the ground, gently lift your right leg towards the ceiling and begin to let it fall slowly over your left side. While your right leg hangs over the left side of your body, slowly turn your head towards the right side. This will maximize the benefits of the lying spinal twist by deepening the stretch felt throughout the back while fully rotating and stretching your spine. Continue to slowly deepen the stretch for 20 to 30 seconds while your back muscles continue loosening. Slowly bring your right leg back towards the ceiling and then gently place it back on the ground. Repeat the same stretch with your left leg while turning your head towards your left side. The lying spinal twist will help stretch your lower back muscles while relieving sciatic pain caused by excessive sitting.

Standing Forward Bend

If you are susceptible to leg or back pain from extended periods of sitting, you could benefit from an easy standing forward bend. The standing forward bend is a simple stretch designed to increase your overall level of flexibility while deeply stretching your hamstrings and calves. Begin by standing with your feet at hip width and then slowly begin bending at the waist towards your toes. Let your upper body continue to hang while deepening your stretch for 20 to 30 seconds. Be mindful to exhale while moving into your stretch, as this will make it easier to deepen your stretch naturally, reducing your risk of injury. After holding the stretch for 20 to 30 seconds, begin slowly returning to a standing position so as not to cause a rush of lightheadedness from standing up too quickly. Repeat the standing forward bend for up to five repetitions while relaxing in between each stretch.

Lying Chin Tuck

If you suffer from forward head posture, you probably experience many aches and pains around your suboccipital muscles. Fortunately, by doing lying chin tucks daily, you can improve the strength of your neck while increasing your overall range of motion. Lying chin tucks help strengthen your front neck muscles, known as neck flexors, while also stretching your suboccipital muscles. To perform a lying chin tuck, begin by lying on the ground or in bed and gently lift your head while tucking your chin towards your chest. Hold this stretch for two to three seconds, then gently bring your head back to its resting position. If you aren’t used to this particular stretch, you may notice your neck begin to tremble. This is completely normal, and is due to your neck flexors not being used often enough. In simpler terms, a neck tremble simply indicates that you’re neck flexors are turning back on. Repeat the lying chin tuck for up to 10 repetitions, and then rest. With consistent stretching, lying chin tucks will help increase neck strength while improving your neck’s range of motion.

Are you located in Atwood, Kansas or its surrounding areas and are in need of quality care? Visit our friendly staff at Rawlins County Health Center! We provide a wide variety of services to our patients such as physical therapy, emergency care at our 24-hour emergency room, and so much more. To learn more about our full list of services we provide, contact Rawlins County Health Center today!